


Timelines

by madasthesea



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, post-Chronogirl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 00:38:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6682468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madasthesea/pseuds/madasthesea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just because it was in a timeline that doesn't exist anymore, doesn't mean it didn't happen. Not to Alix.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It had been a month and a half since Alix had become Chronogirl. It had been a month and three days since she’d first dreamt about what had happened. It was the first time she’d seen Ladybug for more than a few seconds since then. At the sight of her standing a few feet away, Alix had frozen, the memory coming back in a rush.

_Chronogirl lunged for Ladybug, desperate for her energy, for the time she would give, but instead of Ladybug, her hand slammed against Chat Noir as he curled himself protectively around his partner. Ladybug’s eyes, blown wide in surprise, her strangled cry, her stifled whimper. Then her bone-chilling glare, her snarl as she moved around her partner as he slowly vanished._

Alix shuddered. She’d killed Chat Noir. It had been in a timeline that no longer existed while she wasn’t in control of herself, true, but when she dreamt it she watched her own hand reach forward and end the life of one of Paris’ superheroes. She’d erased him from existence. When Ladybug had travelled back in time with her, she’d told Chat that his life depended on stopping Chronogirl and she’d been right.

The details surrounding her akumatization had taken a while to come back to her. She wasn’t sure if that’s how it happened for everyone. People rarely brought up their evil-doings after the fact. She hadn’t told anyone either. But looking at Ladybug now, she felt the guilt weighing on her shoulders.

She stepped forward numbly. Chat Noir had already run off, his beeping ring urging him on. Ladybug was sticking around for a few minutes, making sure that everyone in the area of the attack was alright. Most of her classmates were scattered around, all waiting for the go ahead to reenter the previously ruined school.

“Ladybug,” Alix called, and the superheroine turned around, looking confused. She probably didn’t recognize Alix. She hadn’t exactly looked like herself while she was akumatized.

“I’m Alix,” she said shakily. “You helped me out a few weeks ago. You might not remember. My watch broke and…?” she trailed off, hoping it was enough to spark the memory.

“Chronogirl,” Ladybug recalled. Alix winced and rubbed her neck, nodding. “I’m glad to see you’re doing better.”

“Ah… thanks. I just wanted to say… I, well, uh…” Ladybug was looking at her with a mildly concerned expression. “I’m sorry I killed Chat Noir!” Alix blurted. It was only because she was avoiding looking the heroine in the face that she saw Adrien, silently slipping past them, freeze.

Ladybug jerked back a bit. “Chat Noir’s fine, Alix. You didn’t do anything to him.”

“But I did!” Alix insisted. “I know it was in another timeline, and I know you fixed it, but _I remember killing him_. I keep dreaming about it and I feel so guilty. Every time I see you on the news I think about the way you looked when you realized he’d saved you and the way you hugged him while he disappeared and you freaking _whimpered_ and I can’t forget because I’m so, so _sorry_.”

Ladybug’s blue eyes were huge as she listened to Alix’s frantic apology. She held her hands up, trying to placate her as Alix finally came to a gasping halt.

“Alix,” Ladybug said, stepping forward and putting a hand on Alix’s shoulder. “It wasn’t you. You have nothing to feel guilty about. Chat Noir’s fine. He doesn’t even remember it because it _never happened_. We’re the only two who remember it. And I don’t hold it against you, so don’t hold it against yourself.”

Alix nodded slowly. “Thank you, Ladybug.” She hesitated for a second, then cracked a smile. “You know, you can be pretty scary when you want to. I kind of thought you were going to kill me.”

Ladybug chuckled. “Well, I get pretty angry when people hurt my partner. But I always know they’re not really the ones to blame.”

Behind them, Mr. Damocles called for the students to return to their classes. Alix stepped away and Ladybug waved before throwing her yo-yo and disappearing from sight. Alix turned around, feeling lighter than she had in weeks. She almost ran head first into Adrien, who was staring at the spot Ladybug had been, red faced and open mouthed.

“You coming to class, man?” she asked him. His jaw snapped together and he looked at her in surprise.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, giving her an award winning smile. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Alix passed him, rolling her eyes. That Agreste kid was weirdly obsessed with Ladybug.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien's POV

Chat Noir leapt away from Ladybug after their fist-bump, his Miraculous urging him. He hopped across a few roofs, then circled back in the alleys, his transformation melting away a block from the school. Adrien walked back quickly, feeding Plagg bits of cheese as he went, worried that class would start and his absence would be noticed.  

The lawn was still full of students when he arrived and he sighed in relief. He must have been faster than he’d realized, because he almost immediately saw Ladybug still standing among the crowd. Unconsciously, he walked closer to her. Alix had claimed her attention and he moved to slip passed them unnoticed.

“I’m sorry I killed Chat Noir!” Alix cried out just as he approached. Adrien froze. _What?_ He thinks he might have remembered being killed. Or maybe someone would have mentioned it.

Alix’s eyes were huge, but Adrien hardly noticed. He was looking at Ladybug, completely unaware that his jaw was hanging open. She had flinched back, but was now reassuring Alix that Chat Noir was fine. He almost stepped forward, as if to prove it, before he remembered that he wasn’t transformed and held himself back.

“But I did!” He heard Alix insist. “I know it was in another timeline, and I know you fixed it, but _I remember killing him_.” Adrien couldn’t tear his eyes away from the way Ladybug paled. Her eyes were huge and something in them made it look like she was in pain. “I keep dreaming about it and I feel so guilty. Every time I see you on the news I think about the way you looked when you realized he’d saved you and the way you hugged him while he disappeared and you freaking _whimpered_ and I can’t forget because I’m so, so _sorry_.”

Adrien’s brain had short circuited. He was sure he was staring stupidly at the superheroine, but he honestly couldn’t make himself pretend that he hadn’t just heard that. Ladybug, his partner, the strongest person he’d ever met, had hugged him while he disappeared from existence? His Lady, the love of his life, had been so upset by _his_ lose that she’d whimpered? And he _couldn’t remember any of it?_

She was speaking to Alix quietly, with a supportive hand on her shoulder, but Adrien registered none of it.

Ladybug had never hugged him before. Obviously there had been times when they’d touched, when she would wrap an arm around his chest and pull him to her, away from danger. But a hug just seemed so much more… intentional. More loving.

“You know,” Alix was saying, grinning slyly, when he tuned back in to the conversation, “you can be pretty scary when you want to. I kind of thought you were going to kill me.”

“Well, I get pretty angry when people hurt my partner,” Ladybug said, and she was smiling back, but Adrien—who had spent months fighting by her side, who dreamt about the shade of her eyes and the sound of her voice, who was so in sync with his partner they didn’t need to speak to understand each other—heard the coldness in her tone, the hidden threat behind the words. For him. For her flirtatious, pun spewing, doesn’t-ever-bother-to-look-before-he-leaps partner. He felt vaguely like he’d been punched in the stomach.

Mr. Damocles called for the students to go back into the school, but Adrien barely registered the sound. Ladybug waved goodbye to Alex, not even looking in his direction, and swung away. Adrien watched her go, a weird giddy mixture of shock, joy, and love bringing a blush to his cheeks.

“You coming to class, man?” Alix asked him as she passed. His jaw snapped together and he looked at her in surprise, having completely forgotten her presence.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, unable to hide his goofy smile. “I’ll be right behind you.”

He had a few questions for Ladybug the next time he saw her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't going to write this, but it's so much more enjoyable than the essay I'm supposed to be working on. And I have no chill. Enjoy.

**Author's Note:**

> This is, of course, working under the assumption that the Akuma victims eventually remember what they did. And that Alix gets ramble-y when nervous.


End file.
